Method and apparatus for sheltered, in-place home building

ABSTRACT

A building manufacturing system is provided. The system includes a temporary assembly facility configured to substantially cover one or more permanent building locations. The temporary assembly facility is further configured to enable one or more buildings to be assembled up the one or more permanent building locations. The temporary assembly facility can include a manufacturing facility. The temporary assembly facility can include a transportation system. The transportation system can include an overhead rail system. The temporary assembly facility can include a roof configured to divert precipitation. The roof can be flexible. The roof can include a canvass portion. The roof can include a plastic portion. A method of building a building is also provided. The method can include covering a permanent building location with a portion of a temporary assembly facility, assembling the building upon the permanent building location and removing the portion from the permanent building location.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is related to co-pending U.S. patent application Ser.Nos. 11/431,196 entitled “Building Transport Device” and filed on May 9,2006; 11/620,103 entitled “Device and Method for Transporting a Load”and filed on Jan. 5, 2007; 11/559,229 entitled “Transport Device Capableof Adjustment to Maintain Load Planarity” and filed on Nov. 13, 2006;11/620,560 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Mobile Stem Wall” andfiled on Jan. 5, 2007; 11/681,052 entitled “Method and Apparatus forStationary Home Building Within a Factory” and filed on Mar. 1, 2007;and U.S. Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/887,696, entitled“Method and Apparatus for Integrated Inventory and Planning” and filedon Feb. 1, 2007 the entire contents of each of which is herebyincorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND

Typically, large buildings (e.g., single-family homes, townhouses,apartment complexes, commercial structures, multi-story buildings,buildings legally or physically too large to be transportedsubstantially intact via public roads, etc.) are built upon theirpermanent locations. A foundation is prepared, and raw materials andperhaps small components (e.g., pre-formed roof or floor trusses, doorframes, window frames, etc.) are brought to the site and assembled pieceby piece onto the foundation to form the building. However, temperature,wind, precipitation, insect infestations and other weather orenvironmental issues can cause delays in production or damage to partlycompleted buildings.

SUMMARY

In one embodiment, a building manufacturing system is provided. Thesystem includes a temporary assembly facility configured tosubstantially cover one or more permanent building locations. Thetemporary assembly facility is further configured to enable one or morebuildings to be assembled up the one or more permanent buildinglocations. In one embodiment, the temporary assembly facility includes araw materials, component and/or sub-component storage area.

In another embodiment, the temporary assembly facility includes amanufacturing facility. In one embodiment, the manufacturing facilityincludes one or more component assembly areas.

In another embodiment, the temporary assembly facility includes atransportation system. In one embodiment, the transportation systemincludes an overhead rail system.

In another embodiment, the temporary assembly facility includes a roofconfigured to divert precipitation. In one embodiment, the roof isflexible. In another embodiment, the roof includes a canvass portion. Inone embodiment, the roof includes a plastic portion. In anotherembodiment, the roof is substantially inflexible.

In one embodiment, the temporary assembly facility includes a frame. Inone embodiment, the frame is collapsible. In another embodiment, theframe includes a plurality of elongated members and a plurality ofconnectors. In one embodiment, the frame includes one or more members,wherein the members are configured to be removably at least partlyembedded in the ground. In another embodiment, the frame is attached toone or more anchors that are at least partly embedded in the ground.

In one embodiment, the temporary assembly facility is reconfigurable. Inone embodiment, the temporary assembly facility is reconfigurable tocover an additional permanent building location. In another embodiment,the temporary assembly facility is reconfigurable to not cover one ofthe one or more permanent locations.

In one embodiment, a method of building a building is provided. Themethod includes covering a permanent building location with a portion ofa temporary assembly facility, assembling the building upon thepermanent building location and removing the portion from the permanentbuilding location.

Additional features and advantages are described herein, and will beapparent from, the following Detailed Description and the figures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a building manufacturing system having atemporary assembly facility erected over one permanent home site inaccordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a block diagram of a building manufacturing system having atemporary assembly facility erected over four permanent home sites inaccordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a building manufacturing system having atemporary assembly facility erected over four permanent home sites and acomponent manufacturing facility in accordance with one embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a building manufacturing system having atemporary assembly facility erected over four permanent home sites, amanufacturing facility and a transportation route in accordance with oneembodiment.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of the building manufacturing system of FIG. 4having a temporary assembly facility that has been reconfigured to coverat least one different permanent home site in accordance with oneembodiment.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram of the process of building a buildingaccordance with one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIGS. 1-5 illustrate a building manufacturing system in accordance withone embodiment. The system preferably includes one or more temporaryassembly facilities 100 temporarily located at the permanent location ofone or more homes being built. Preferably, a temporary assembly facility100 includes a frame made from steel, aluminum or any other suitablemetal; however, the frame can be made from any suitable material orcombination of materials. Further, a roof and walls are preferablyremovably attached to and/or supported by the frame; however a roofand/or walls can be attached to and/or supported by the frame in anysuitable manner.

Preferably, the frame includes a plurality of poles or other elongatedmembers which are releasably connected by a plurality of connectors;however, the frame can include any suitable members, permanentlyconnected sections or connectors. Preferably, the frame is temporarilysecured to the ground by temporarily embedding one or more of the polesat least partly into the ground; however, the frame can be secured tothe ground in any suitable manner, including temporarily or permanentlyembedding one or more stakes in the ground and attaching the frame(e.g., via a rope or other suitable connection) or permanently securingone or more anchor frame members to the ground and attaching the frame(e.g., via one or more of the plurality of connectors) to the permanentanchor members.

The roof is preferably capable of providing shade and divertingprecipitation from the permanent home site; however, the roof can haveany suitable properties. In one embodiment, the roof is a plastic orcanvass tarp; however, the roof can be any one or more materials, can berigid or can have any other suitable characteristics. Preferably, theroof covers substantially the entire upper portion of the frame;however, the roof can cover less than substantially the entire upperportion (e.g., covering an area above a permanent home site 102 ormaterials storage site 104 with much of the space between two permanenthome sites 102 left uncovered).

Preferably, the walls are capable of providing shade, maintaining a moreconsistent temperature, humidity or other environmental condition (whencombined with the roof) and diverting precipitation and/or winds fromthe permanent home site; however, walls are not required and the one ormore walls can have any suitable properties. In one embodiment, thewalls are a plastic or canvass tarp; however, the walls can be any oneor more materials, can be rigid or can have any other suitablecharacteristics. In one embodiment, one or more of the walls arecontinuously formed with the roof (e.g., one piece of canvass ormultiple canvass sheets permanently joined together) and/or one or moreother walls; however, the walls can be separate from the roof and/orother walls if desired. The roof and/or walls can be secured to theframe in any suitable manner, including tying with rope, cord or othermechanisms, sliding onto a support member similar to some curtains on acurtain rod, or any other suitable securing mechanism. In anotherembodiment, the roof and/or walls are not secured to the frame. Instead,the roof and/or walls are secured to the ground and merely placed overthe frame. Preferably, at least one wall includes an opening throughwhich raw materials, components or subcomponents can pass; however, suchraw materials can be delivered by temporarily removing at least aportion of a wall or the roof or through an opening in the roof.

Preferably, a building (e.g., a home or other structure) is built uponeach permanent building site 102 within the temporary assembly facility100; however, a building can be built on less than each permanentbuilding site 102. The building can be built in any suitable manner,including stick-building, panelized building, modular building, anycombination thereof or any other suitable manner.

In one embodiment, a manufacturing facility 106 capable of manufacturingeach component (e.g., floors, walls, roofs, foundations, or any othersuitable components) to be used in building a building is erected withinthe temporary assembly facility; however, the manufacturing facility 106can be capable of building only a subset of the components to be used inbuilding a large building with the remaining components beingmanufactured elsewhere and transported to the temporary assemblyfacility 100 for integration into the building or can have any othersuitable capabilities or can be located outside of the temporaryassembly facility. In one embodiment, the temporary assembly facility100 includes an overhead rail system for transporting materials orcomponents from materials storage areas 104 or the manufacturingfacility 106 to the building sites 102; however, the temporary assemblyfacility 100 can include any suitable materials and/or componenttransport mechanism, including fork lifts, ground rail systems, trucks,cranes, or any other suitable lifting and/or moving apparatuses. In oneembodiment, the roof covers the overhead rail system or other suitablematerials and/or component paths. Preferably, the overhead rail systemor other materials and/or component moving and/or lifting system itconfigured to be able to independently and simultaneously move aplurality of components and/or materials even in opposite directionsalong the same path; however, the overhead rail 110 and/or othersuitable component moving and/or lifting system can have any suitableconfiguration and/or capabilities.

The manufacturing facility 106 preferably has one or more componentassembly areas 108 in which components are manufactured from rawmaterials and/or sub-components (e.g., window and door frames, standardtrusses, etc.); however, the manufacturing facility 106 is not requiredto have component assembly areas 108. Preferably, the component assemblyareas 108 are capable of manufacturing more than one type of component(e.g., walls, floors and roofs or roof segments) and/or variousconfigurations or styles of one type of component without significantretooling or reconfiguration; however, the component assembly areas 108can be specialized and/or require significant retooling orreconfiguration if desired. Components can be manufactured in componentassembly areas 108 using an assembly line, an assembly point or anyother suitable manufacturing process. Preferably, raw materials and/orsub-components are delivered to the component assembly areas 108 from aseparate raw materials storage area 104 using any suitabletransportation mechanism (e.g., a crane, a fork lift, manual labor, adolly, a conveyor system, etc.) such as overhead rail 110; however, aseparate raw materials storage area 104 is not required, and thecomponent manufacturing facility 106 can have any suitableconfiguration, including having its own storage areas 104.

Once manufactured, components can be stored in component storage area104; however, the component storage area 104 is not required andcomponents can incorporated into a building being assembled uponcompletion or at any other suitable time if desired.

It should be understood that a building can be assembled in any suitablemanner in permanent building location 102; however, preferably, afoundation, stem wall or other building support structure component ispositioned at the permanent building location 102 after the location 102is prepared. One or more components are preferably moved to andpositioned at the location 102 using a crane or rail system 110; howeverany suitable moving system can be used. The rail system 110 can be anysuitable type of rail system, and can be attached to the frame of thetemporary assembly facility 100, the ground or any other suitable baseinside the temporary assembly facility 100, and/or the ground, floorand/or any other suitable base outside the temporary assembly facility100. The foundation, stem wall or other building support structurecomponent can be of any suitable type, including but not limited tothose described in co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/620,560 entitled “Method and Apparatus for Mobile Stem Wall” andfiled on Jan. 5, 2007. The system can include rails, a dolly, a crane, avehicle, rollers, a conveyor system, or any other suitable movingdevices.

Then, one or more floor components are attached to the partly buildbuilding. The floor components can be attached in any suitable manner.Then, interior and exterior first floor wall components are attached tothe partly build building in any suitable manner. If a second story isto be added, one or more floor components are added to the partly builtbuilding for the second story. Then, more wall components are added tothe partly build building. When the building has the correct number ofstories, one or more roof components are added to the partly builtbuilding, at which point the building can be finishing; however, itshould be noted that finishing can occur at any suitable time.

Preferably, the system also includes an inventory control systemconfigured to schedule the manufacture of components and buildings inthe temporary assembly facility 100 based on a projected demand for thecomponents and buildings such that the components are available forassembling into a building substantially when the components arescheduled for assembling into the building based on a predeterminedassembly schedule wherein the predetermined assembly schedule is relatedto the projected demand for the large buildings. For example, a house isscheduled to be built at the temporary assembly facility 100 with acompletion date and/or time. For the house to be completed by that date,a wall component would need to be present some period (e.g., two days)before that completion date. The inventory control system schedules forthe manufacturing facility 100 to manufacture the wall component at atime that will enable the wall component to be ready for integrationinto the partly built building in time for the building to be completedby the completion date. The inventory control system can be any suitableinventory system, including those described in co-pending U.S.Provisional Patent Application Ser. No. 60/887,696, entitled “Method andApparatus for Integrated Inventory and Planning” and filed on Feb. 1,2007.

The components can be any suitable components; however, in oneembodiment, the components include a wall, a floor, a roof (e.g., atraditional roof, a planted roof or any other suitable type of roof), amobile foundation or a mobile stem wall.

It should be understood that components can be delivered to thetemporary assembly facility 100 from third parties or buildings can bestick-built on the permanent building locations 102.

After one or more buildings are completed or at least completedsufficiently such that only interior work (e.g., finishing) remains, thetemporary assembly facility 100 can be disassembled partly or entirely,enabling the temporary assembly facility 100 to be set up in a differentlocation or reconfigured. For example, the portion of the temporaryassembly facility 100 covering a permanent home site 102 having asubstantially completed home thereon can be disassembled, as can aportion of the rail system 110 leading to that site 102 and the portionof the temporary assembly facility 100 covering that portion of the railsystem 110 can all be disassembled and the temporary assembly facility100 can be reconfigured to cover an additional permanent home site 102that does not have a building upon it as well as a new segment of therail system 110 leading to the additional site 102. It should be notedthat, in various embodiments, the temporary assembly facility 100 can bereconfigured to add sites 102 or remove sites 102 independently. Itshould also be noted that the temporary assembly facility 100 is notrequired to be reconfigurable.

FIG. 6 illustrates the process of building a building accordance withone embodiment. At block 200, a temporary assembly facility isconfigured to protect a permanent building location. At block 210, abuilding is assembled upon the permanent building location. At block220, the temporary assembly facility is removed from the permanentbuilding location.

It should be understood that various changes and modifications to thepresently preferred embodiments described herein will be apparent tothose skilled in the art. Such changes and modifications can be madewithout departing from the spirit and scope of the present subjectmatter and without diminishing its intended advantages. It is thereforeintended that such changes and modifications be covered by the appendedclaims.

1. A building manufacturing system comprising: a temporary assemblyfacility configured to substantially cover one or more permanentbuilding locations, the temporary assembly facility being furtherconfigured to enable one or more buildings to be assembled up the one ormore permanent building locations.
 2. The building manufacturing systemof claim 1, wherein the temporary assembly facility includes a rawmaterials, component and/or sub-component storage area.
 3. The buildingmanufacturing system of claim 1, wherein the temporary assembly facilityincludes a manufacturing facility.
 4. The building manufacturing systemof claim 3, wherein the manufacturing facility includes one or morecomponent assembly areas.
 5. The building manufacturing system of claim1, wherein the temporary assembly facility includes a transportationsystem.
 6. The building manufacturing system of claim 5, wherein thetransportation system includes an overhead rail system.
 7. The buildingmanufacturing system of claim 1, wherein the temporary assembly facilityincludes a roof configured to divert precipitation.
 8. The buildingmanufacturing system of claim 7, wherein the roof is flexible.
 9. Thebuilding manufacturing system of claim 8, wherein the roof includes acanvass portion.
 10. The building manufacturing system of claim 8,wherein the roof includes a plastic portion.
 11. The buildingmanufacturing system of claim 7, wherein the roof is substantiallyinflexible.
 12. The building manufacturing system of claim 1, whereinthe temporary assembly facility includes a frame.
 13. The buildingmanufacturing system of claim 12, wherein the frame is collapsible. 14.The building manufacturing system of claim 12, wherein the frameincludes a plurality of elongated members and a plurality of connectors.15. The building manufacturing system of claim 12, wherein the frameincludes one or more members, wherein the members are configured to beremovably at least partly embedded in the ground.
 16. The buildingmanufacturing system of claim 12, wherein the frame is attached to oneor more anchors that are at least partly embedded in the ground.
 17. Thebuilding manufacturing system of claim 1, wherein the temporary assemblyfacility is reconfigurable.
 18. The building manufacturing system ofclaim 17, wherein the temporary assembly facility is reconfigurable tocover an additional permanent building location.
 19. The buildingmanufacturing system of claim 1, wherein the temporary assembly facilityis reconfigurable to not cover one of the one or more permanentlocations.
 20. A method of building a building comprising: covering apermanent building location with a portion of a temporary assemblyfacility; assembling the building upon the permanent building location;and removing the portion from the permanent building location.